Ethnocentrism Essay

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Ethnocentrism is the thinking that one's race or ethnic group culture is of central importance. This is because such a group shares the same beliefs, norms and activities. Ethnocentrism is one of the main reasons why disunions exist among member of different ethnicities, religious groups and races. For instance, the members of an ethnocentric group believe that their group is superior or better in a number of ways compared to others around it. Living in such multicultural country as the USA, adds on many dimensions to our daily lives in contrast with ethnocentrism. These changes may lead to many advantages and disadvantages in how we interact with each other. One of the advantages that ethnocentrism brings is that it is unlikely to experience internal conflicts within the same culture group. Given that the group consistently believes in a particular way of doing things, they follow them and less opposition are likely to develop. For example communities that greatly value their traditions are unlikely to accept practices that are abolished by the values of other cultures. This enables them to maintain their long valued traditions for future generations. Moreover, while grocery shopping within the same culture range, is easier because the supermarkets will exhibit the same tastes and preferences. Furthermore, the group is likely to share the same language thus one may not need an interpreter to communicate effectively. Aside from the advantages that ethnocentric groups experience, there are also negative consequences such as no diversity within an ethnocentric group, missing on innovations and likely positive change that diversity comes with. This will leave such group outdated and out of touch with reality. Such a group is likely to prejudice and oppress other groups and cultures different from theirs. For example, we can unintentionally offend others, generate

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